Currently:

I am a third-year clinical psychology Ph.D. student at Duke University working with Drs. Ahmad Hariri and Tim Strauman. In my research, I am investigating the impact of normative variations in parenting on neurodevelopment. I hope to bring a cognitive neuroscience foundation to the parenting literature.

Outside of research / clinical training / coursework, I enjoy: cuddling with my dog (see above for reference); drinking very dark or very sour beer, ideally outdoors; complaining about Durham's humidity; and explaining to my parents that my research interests do not revolve around them.

“Trust your work.”

— Nayyirah waheed

Before Duke:

Before beginning my Ph.D. at Duke, I was a postbac research fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health in Dr. Danny Pine's group: the Section on Affective Developmental Neuroscience (SDAN). SDAN investigates the neural underpinnings of pediatric and adolescent anxiety. At the NIH, I had my first exposure to neuroimaging, which remains a focus of my current work.

Before NIH:

I received my B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University in 2014. At Cornell, I took courses across the psychology and human development departments. In my spare-ish time, I was on the women's varsity soccer team and a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

While at Cornell, I conducted research in Dr. Tamar Kushnir's lab, the Early Childhood Cognition Laboratory (ECCL), investigating learning mechanisms in young children. This work sparked my continued interest in the broad impact of early life experiences.